New Mexico’s methane hot spot

❝ The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a new study…examining what caused a methane “hot spot” to form in New Mexico. This new study of methane emissions generated by the oil and gas industry in the state’s San Juan Basin is a major step forward in understanding the causes of New Mexico’s methane “hot spot.” It follows up on a 2014 satellite-based study that initially found the “hot spot” and sought to identify its specific causes.

❝ The NASA study found that roughly 50 percent of basin-wide methane emissions come from more than 250 very large polluters that were detected by intensive NASA aerial surveys and ground crews. According to the authors, this finding confirms researchers’ earlier speculation that most of the basin’s methane emissions are related to natural gas extraction and coal mining.

But this is only half of the story as the study did not determine the source of the remaining 50 percent of emissions. Given the more than 20,000 (mainly older) gas wells, myriad storage tanks, thousands of miles of pipelines and several gas processing plants in the area, NASA’s finding that the oil and gas industry is primarily responsible for the “hot spot” is not surprising. In fact, the researchers found only one large source of methane not related to oil and gas operations: venting from the San Juan coal mine. This discovery renders attempts to point the finger at other potential emissions sources, like coal outcrops and landfills, definitively refuted.

Today’s Republicans do nothing by definition. Most of the state’s leading Democrats worry about meeting budget requirements defined almost solely by reliance on fossil fuel extraction. There is nothing approaching a Green Party and hasn’t been for 22 years.

The few activist enviro organizations fight the good fight — like the Wild Earth Guardians. There are more. Just not enough.

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15 thoughts on “New Mexico’s methane hot spot”

A new scientific study, a summary of which appeared in the journal Nature yesterday, shows that while gas production has soared in recent years, the industry’s rate of leakage appears to have declined. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060043917 (3rd in a series of stories about carbon sinks and sources. Links to parts one and two are included, along with a link to the Nature article).
Oil and gas production on U.S. public lands generates about $9 billion annually, making it one of the largest non-tax sources of federal funds. The resource is overseen by the Interior Department, which is legally required to collect royalty payments and to make sure the public’s resources are not being wasted. The report notes that officials of the federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees land-based oil and gas leases, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which watches offshore production, had little motivation to use new technologies, such as infrared cameras that can see major plumes of escaping gas. The result, GAO said, was that real leakage rates were running as much as 30 times higher than the Interior Department estimates.
The United States had lost $58 million in federal royalty payments in 2008. With proper management, 40 percent of the lost gas might have been recovered and sold. The fugitive emissions of methane and CO2 were comparable to the emissions of 8 million passenger cars or 10 average-sized coal-fired power plants. The Environmental Defense Fund, a New York-based environmental group, later commissioned its own testing of emissions from federally managed oil and gas fields and concluded that $330 million a year in natural gas resources were being wasted.

“NM plays key role in methane rule conflict” https://www.abqjournal.com/962367/nm-plays-key-role-in-methane-rule-conflict.html New Mexico is playing a key role because it’s particularly impacted by emissions from oil and gas operations. The San Juan Basin in the Four Corners area is responsible for 14.5 percent of total U.S. methane emissions, according to data from the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. ICF International, an independent consulting firm, estimates New Mexico loses about $100 million worth of gas extracted annually on federal and tribal lands in the state. Compared to other hydrocarbon fuels, methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released. Also since it’s the simplest hydrocarbon, methane (natural gas) produces more heat per mass unit (55.7 kJ/g) than other complex hydrocarbons.

Yesterday (Feb 12, 2018) the BLM moved to repeal its Waste Prevention Rule—intended to reduce the venting of methane, a greenhouse gas with at least 86 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over the short term—because, “In order to achieve energy dominance through responsible energy production, we need smart regulations not punitive regulations,” says the BLM’s assistant secretary for land and minerals management. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/climate/trump-methane-rule-repeal.html Joseph “Joe” Balash is serving as the Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management. In this role, Balash oversees the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and heads “Interior’s management of all federal lands and waters, and their associated mineral and non-mineral resources, as well as the appropriate regulation of surface coal mining.” See https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/joseph-joe-balash/ for special Interests, previous employers and political connections.
The agency is expected to publish the proposal in the Federal Register, which will kick off a 60-day public comment period. A final repeal of the rule would come after that.
NASA: https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/91000/91564/methane_plot_2016.png